1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a simulated feeding apparatus for simulating the feeding of food to a doll with a utensil such as a spoon. The food appears to disappear from the utensil during insertion into the doll's mouth. The utensil appears to refill when withdrawn from a container, which appears to contain the same type of food.
2. Discussion of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,594, whose contents are incorporated herein by reference, discloses a simulated feeding device in which imitation food seems to disappear from a spoon when brought to a doll's mouth or seems to be refilled when inserted into a container of the imitation food. In order to achieve this effect of disappearance or refill of the imitation food, magnets are employed.
One magnet is located near the mouth of the doll. The other magnet is in the container. The spoon itself has a magnet secured to the underside of a rotatable plate in the spoon bowl. One half of the plate holds imitation food and the other exhibits a false bottom for the spoon. A magnet at the underside of the plate has a north polarity beneath the false bottom and a south polarity beneath the imitation food. Half the spoon bowl is enclosed by a cover.
Thus, when the spoon is brought near the mouth of the doll, the south polarity of the magnet in the doll and also in the spoon repulse each other so that the plate rotates to make the false bottom become visible in the spoon bowl and to conceal the food beneath the cover of the spoon. When the spoon is brought near the north polarity of the magnet in the container, the north polarity of the magnet in the spoon repulses, causing the plate to rotate so that the food becomes visible and the false bottom becomes hidden beneath the cover of the spoon.
Thus, the illusion that the doll is being fed with food and that the spoon is being filled with food from the container is realized. A weak magnetic insert is added to the spoon to retain the plate in its rotated position and thereby avoid undesired turning when the spoon is moved.
It would be desirable to avoid using a false bottom and to avoid using a cover to hide half the bowl of the spoon. In this manner, the spoon bowl will look more like a normal spoon bowl, which does not have to be as round or as deep as a bowl with a false bottom and which has no cover to hide half of it. It would also be desirable to avoid the necessity for a plurality of magnets and to be able to avoid the unrealistic appearance of the "food" on the spoon rotating out of the way when the spoon approaches the month of the doll.